THQ Nordic remastering of Kingdoms of Amalur: Evaluation will be released on Nintendo Switch on March 16, the company announced on Tuesday.
Amalur Kingdoms Review, as the new version is called, first released in September for PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One in September 2020. It is a remastering of the 2012 RPG from 38 Studios, whose bankruptcy soon after the game’s release became a political scandal problem for the state of Rhode Island.
Amalur is expanding its borders and entering the unknown territory of … Nintendo Switch on March 16, 2021.
Return to the Faelands and forge your destiny. Discover the secrets of Amalur and rescue a world torn apart by a cruel war – finally on the move! #ReReckoning pic.twitter.com/xRpPZGafnY
– Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning (@ReckoningGame) January 19, 2021
THQ Nordic purchased the rights to the Kingdoms of Amalur franchise in 2018. This remastered is developed by Kaiko, who previously delivered Darksiders 2: Deathinitive Edition and Darksiders: Warmastered Edition for THQ Nordic in 2015 and 2016.
Praised as a deep and high fantasy RPG, Kingdoms of Amalur: Evaluation was a critical success for Electronic Arts when it launched on PlayStation 3, Windows PC and Xbox 360 in February 2012. But even selling 1.2 million copies in the first 90 days, the game didn’t earn even close to enough money to cover the loan that Rhode Island issued to 38 Studios.
38 Studios, founded by former Boston Red Sox launcher Curt Schilling, was finally liquidated in late 2013. Following the sale of the company’s assets and civil lawsuit agreements with Schilling, banks, underwriters and other investors at 38 Studios, Rhode Island taxpayers ended up paying about $ 28 million with state bonds that gave the studio $ 75 million to relocate to Providence.
The rights that THQ Nordic now controls are for the Amalur franchise; publishing rights for the original game are still retained by EA. 38 Studios was working on an MMO codenamed Project Copernicus when it broke. THQ Nordic chose assets for this as well in its 2018 acquisition.